A recent report released by the Pennsylvania Department of Health shows that abortions are up in the pro-abortion state, and along with the rise, abortion complications in the state have tripled in the last five years. The report coincides with the recent data showing that half of the state’s abortion facilities failed health inspections last year.
The report notes that in 2022, there were 34,838 abortions reported in Pennsylvania. According to the Pennsylvania Family Council, this is the highest number of annual abortions in the last 10 years, with the complication rate being “triple the number of complications from just five years prior (143 in 2017). It’s also a seven-fold increase in reported complications in the last fifteen years (67 in 2008).”
According to the report (emphasis added):
In 2022, there were 469 reports of complications from abortions that were submitted by physicians; 45.6 percent more than the 322 reported in 2021. More than 75 percent of the complications were related to retained products of conception, 14.7 percent to bleeding and 3.6 percent to infection.“
A majority of 19,011 preborn children were killed via the abortion pill, which may explain the sharp increase in complications.
Chemical abortion via the abortion pill has been found to be four times more dangerous for women than first-trimester surgical abortions. The abortion pill carries a high rate of incomplete abortion (“retained products of conception,” as noted in the report) which can lead to a dangerous infection, and the need for a second, surgical abortion.
The abortion pill can also be deadly if a woman who is unknowingly experiencing an ectopic pregnancy takes the abortion pill. The pro-abortion group Gynuity Health Projects published a study that found that six percent (6%) of women who took the abortion pill had complications requiring visits to the emergency room or urgent care. Those women who do need to seek emergency care, especially in pro-life states, are being encouraged to lie and tell the medical professionals they are having a natural miscarriage instead, which likely means that complications are being underreported.
The report also reveals that the abortion industry continues to target Black women. Though Black individuals make up just 11% of the state’s total population, 14,923 of 2022 abortions — 43 percent — were to Black individuals. This data coincides with a November 2023 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which showed that Black women saw the highest abortion percentage, rate, and ratio in 2021.
Last year, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro put an end to state funding for pregnancy help centers, which offer assistance to women and families who opt to give birth instead of seeking abortion. In addition, the state launched a website in 2023 to direct women and girls, both residents and non-residents, on finding an abortion facility and financial support to pay for the abortion. And recently, lawmakers in the state passed a bill to protect lawbreaking abortionists.
